Inmate management and call processing systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are systems and methods that provide centralized or nodal inmate management and telephone call processing capabilities to controlled environment facilities. An inmate management and call processing system serves a plurality of facilities and includes an inmate information database. The database is shared across the facilities and contains inmate records that may be accessed and modified by each facility as the inmate is transferred among those facilities. Each inmate record may include, among other information, contact information of third parties whom may be notified of the inmate&#39;s arrest and/or subsequent transfers of the inmate to different facilities. The inmate management and telephone call processing system may use third party contact information to establish accounts used to charge calls or transactions made by an inmate while residing at the facility. Some systems may also provide call processing, video conferencing, e-mail, voicemail, and/or videomail applications, and the like to the facilities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/642,532 entitled “Centralized Call Processing,” filed onAug. 15, 2003, and it is related to co-pending and commonly assignedU.S. patent applications Ser. No 10/135,878 entitled “InformationManagement and Movement System and Method,” filed Apr. 29, 2002, Ser.No. 10/135,883 entitled “Optimizing Profitability in BusinessTransactions,” filed Apr. 29, 2002, Ser. No. 10/190,315 entitled “Systemand Methods for Offering a Service to a Party Associated with a BlockedCall,” filed Jul. 3, 2002, Ser. No. 09/640,831 entitled “System andMethod for Reverse Billing of a Telephone Call,” filed Aug. 17, 2000,Ser. No. 10/022,946 entitled “Method for Determining an EntityResponsible for Billing a Called Party,” filed Dec. 17, 2001, Ser. No.10/217,956 entitled “System and Method for Call Treatment,” filed Aug.12, 2002, Ser. No. 10/252,956 entitled “Three-Way Telephone CallPrevention System and Method,” filed Sep. 20, 2002, Ser. No. 09/995,253entitled “Method and Apparatus for Exchanging Data Between a PrimaryComputer System and an External Computer System to Ensure TransactionReconciliation Between the Systems,” filed Nov. 27, 2001, Ser. No.10,360,248 entitled “System and Method for Account Establishment andTransaction Management Using Interrupt Messaging,” filed Feb. 7, 2003,Ser. No. 10/360,442 entitled “Systems and Methods for TransactionAuthorization Determination,” filed Feb. 7, 2003, Ser. No. 10/437,839entitled “Intelligent Queuing of Transaction Requests,” filed May 14,2003, Ser. No. 10/420,585 entitled “System and Method for DetectingUnauthorized Call Activity,” filed Apr. 22, 2003, Ser. No. 10/602,233entitled “System and Method for Transaction and Information Management,”filed Jun. 24, 2003, Ser. No. 10/640,505 entitled “Called PartyControlled Message Delivery,” filed Aug. 13, 2003, Ser. No. 10/720,732entitled “Information Management and Movement System and Method,” filedNov. 24, 2003, Ser. No. 10/828,735 entitled “Systems and Methods forReal-Time Obligation Search, Payment, and Update,” filed Apr. 21, 2006,Ser. No. 10/836,976 entitled “Systems and Methods for Transaction andInformation Management,” filed Apr. 30, 2004, Ser. No. 10/720,848entitled “Information Management and Movement System and Method,” filedNov. 24, 2003, Ser No. 10/952,327 entitled “Systems and Methods forManagement and Dissemination of Information for Controlled EnvironmentFacility,” filed Sep. 28, 2004, Ser. No. 11/182,625 entitled “Systemsand Methods for Acquiring, Accessing, and Analyzing InvestigativeInformation,” filed Jul. 15, 2005, and Ser. No. 10/800,473 entitled“Call processing with Voice over Internet Protocol Transmission,” filedon Mar. 15, 2004, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to information systems, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods for inmate management and callprocessing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Considerable time and expense is involved in accepting an inmate at acontrolled environment facility. In most cases, an individual may befirst identified on the street by a member of the police department ashaving an outstanding warrant for arrest, or may otherwise be taken intocustody by police or an officer of the court. The arresting officer maythen complete some paperwork identifying the individual, describing thereason for arrest or detention, list any impounded property, etc. Thisinitial information may be collected, for instance, in a patrol car orthe like. Thereafter, the arrestee may be transported to a localcontrolled environment facility such as, for example, police stations,department of corrections, juvenile facilities, municipal or countyjails, etc., for further processing and/or incarceration.

In general, there is a period of time when the arrest is temporarilyincarcerated in a controlled environment facility but has not been fullyprocessed as an inmate thereof. For example, the arrestee may have beenphotographed, fingerprinted, and entered into an initial set of books atthe facility, but he or she may not yet have been arraigned (i.e.,brought before a judge to hear the charges and to set bail). Beforebeing fully processed into the controlled environment facility, anarrestee may go through a classification process, medical examination,hygienic processing (e.g., shower and delousing), etc. In connectionwith these procedures, staff members may be required to complete a filein an inmate management system.

In some situations, the arrestee may be placed in a temporary holdingcell. Often the law requires that arrestees be given access to atelephone for placing one or more calls to seek assistance from someoneoutside of the controlled environment facility, such as a friend orfamily member, an attorney, a bail bondsman, etc. Today, localcontrolled environment facilities such as police stations and the likemay not monitor, control, or even charge for those calls, particularlywhen the calls originate from holding cells. Typically, only the firstcall made by the arrestee must be provided free of charge. Nonetheless,local facilities do not ordinarily have the means to charge forsubsequent calls, or even limit the amount of calls made a particulararrestee. As a result, the arrestee's phone calls are often provided asfree service and without any control or monitoring.

Furthermore, after the arrestee becomes an inmate of a first controlledenvironment facility, he or she is oftentimes transferred to a secondsuch facility. These transfers may take place, for example, based on theexpected length of incarceration, jurisdiction where the crime tookplace, type of crime committed, etc. For instance, an inmate may betemporarily held at a local police station, and then moved to a countyjail. After residing within the county jail for a period of time, theinmate may then be moved to a state or federal prison. Today eachpolice, county, state, and federal authority implements its own inmatedata collection and management system. Therefore, at each step in theinmate's incarceration history beginning with his or her arrest up untilhis or her last transfer, redundant information is gathered andprocessed by each facility. The information collected by these differentfacilities is not connected in any way, and investigators must visit orcontact each such entity when seeking information related to a singlecase or person.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems and methods that providecentralized or nodal inmate management and telephone call processingcapabilities to controlled environment facilities and law enforcementagencies. In one embodiment, an inmate management and call processingsystem of the present invention serves a plurality of controlledenvironment facilities such as, for example, police stations, detentioncenters, juvenile facilities, county and municipal jails, statepenitentiaries, federal prisons, and the like. The inmate management andcall processing system preferably includes an inmate informationdatabase to provide data aggregation and sharing capabilities acrossseveral facilities, in addition to call processing functionality.

Each controlled environment facility may utilize the inmate managementand call processing system to store, retrieve, and/or modify a recordassociated with an arrestee or inmate in the inmate informationdatabase. To that end, high bandwidth persistent data connections may beprovided between the controlled environment facilities and the inmatemanagement and call processing system for data processing use, such asby management terminals and/or other data processing systems (e.g.,commerce computer systems, justice application management computersystems, various peripheral devices, etc.) disposed at the facilities.

When a person is arrested for the first time, an inmate record may becreated that comprises a code, personal identification number (PIN), orsome other form of identification (e.g., uniquely generated code,biometrics, etc.) that is associated with him or her. Alternatively, ifthe arrestee has been arrested before, the arresting office may retrievean existing record and update that record with new information. In someembodiments, another code or number may be created for the particularincident giving rise to the arrest, and that incident may be linked tothe arrestee. An arresting officer or law enforcement staff collectspersonal and/or incident-related information from the arrestee and addsthat information to an inmate record. In one embodiment, the inmaterecord includes a list of third parties connected with the arrestee(e.g., family, friends, attorneys, etc.) along with their contactinformation. After the record is stored in the inmate management andcall processing system, the system may proactively operate to notify oneor more of those third parties about the arrest (e.g., by telephone,email, or the like).

In one embodiment, the inmate management and call processing system ofthe present invention establishes an account associated with a thirdparty whose contact information is reflected in the inmate's record. Theaccount may be a pre-paid account, a post-paid account, and debitaccount, a credit account, or the like. To set up the account, theinmate management and call processing system may request additionalinformation directly from the third party, for example, during thearrest and/or transfer notification process. In one embodiment, theinmate management and call processing system establishes a first accountfor telephone calls and/or transactions (e.g., purchasing or commissaryitems) made by the inmate while the inmate is at a first controlledenvironment facility (e.g., municipal jail). In another embodiment, theinmate management and call processing system may create a second accountor update the first account upon the inmate's transfer to a secondcontrolled environment facility (e.g., county jail).

Moreover, as the arrestee is moved or transferred among differentcontrolled environment facilities (e.g., from police department tocounty jail), the receiving facility may access the inmate managementand call processing system and retrieve the inmate's record from theinmate database. The receiving facility may also modify the inmate'srecord and/or add data collected upon the inmate's arrival and/or duringhis or her stay. In this manner, an inmate's entire incarcerationhistory beginning with his or her arrest is maintained in a centralizedor nodal database. As such, the inmate management and call processingsystems provides for data sharing, aggregation, and/or analysis acrossmultiple facilities served, whether affiliated (such as facilities of aparticular city, county, or state or facilities having an association,e.g., sheriff's association) or non-affiliated (such as all facilitiesserved by the service provider). Information, such as inmate bookinginformation, dossiers, etc., may be shared across several facilities.

In one embodiment, the inmate management and call processing system ofthe present invention also provides call processing, video conferencing,e-mail, videomail, and/or voicemail applications, and the like to one ormore of the plurality of controlled environment facilities that itserves. Data connections between the controlled environment facilitiesand the inmate management and call processing system may also carrytelephone call content. For example, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)may be utilized to carry calls from a location at which calling servicesare provided to an inmate management and call processing systemproviding all or substantially all call processing functionality, suchas calling party identification, call validation, call routing,connection to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), callrecording, etc. Additionally or alternatively, calls may be placed on anetwork at the facility. For instance, a call processor box at thefacility may operate in cooperation with the inmate management and callprocessing system of the present invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide devices havingrelatively limited or specialized functionality, such as VoIP gatewaysor integrated access devices (IADs) (collectively referred to herein incentralized call processing configurations as call processing gateways),at controlled environment facilities for which calling services areprovided. These call processing gateways are preferably utilized toprovide plain old telephone services (POTS) analog line interfaces foruse with a plurality of telephone sets disposed for use at the facilityand at least one wide area network (WAN) interface for providing highspeed data communication to an inmate management and call processingsystem. Call processing gateways utilized according to the presentinvention may provide additional interfaces, such as a local areanetwork (LAN) for connecting systems such as management terminals to thegateway and/or inmate management and call processing system and/orswitched network interfaces such as to couple PSTN lines directly to thegateway, if desired.

Call processing gateways of embodiments of the invention become thecollection point for calls and data for a particular facility andprovide a link to one or more central sites for call processing andother functionality. For example, one centralized inmate management andcall processing system may be implemented with respect to a plurality offacilities serviced. Additionally or alternatively, a plurality ofinmate management platforms, such as might be deployed regionally and/orto provide redundancy, may be networked to a plurality of facilitiesservices. WAN circuits may be purchased from a carrier for connectingeach individual facility to the inmate management platform or platforms.The WAN circuits may be purchased according to the bandwidth capacitydesired for each corresponding facility, e.g., to provide less bandwidthwhere few telephone terminals are deployed at a facility and morebandwidth where many telephone terminals are deployed at anotherfacility. The WAN circuits may be collected together as they proceedthrough a carrier's network, thereby providing a larger aggregate datapipe or pipes at an inmate management and call processing system.

Inmate management and call processing systems of preferred embodimentsof the present invention comprise high capacity and high speedrouting/switching functionality, such as a router and gigabit Ethernetswitch, to facilitate low latency data communication between callprocessing functionality and/or PSTN interfacing functionality of thecall processing gateways of a plurality of facilities. Call processingfunctionality of embodiments of an inmate management and call processingsystem may be provided by a plurality of servers operable under controlof instruction sets defining operation to provide call processingfeatures such as calling party identification, call validation, callrouting, etc. PSTN interfacing functionality of embodiments of an inmatemanagement and call processing system may be provided as a dataconnection (e.g., media gateway control protocol (MGCP) or sessioninitiation protocol (SIP) to the PSTN. Additionally or alternatively,PSTN interfacing functionality of embodiments of an inmate managementplatform may be provided as POTS trunking or other more traditionaltelephone line interface. Preferred embodiments, however, may placecalls on the PSTN in VoIP protocols to receive the benefit of suchadvantages as lower connection cost offered by the carrier whenintroduced to the PSTN in VoIP protocols, reduced latencies associatedwith repeated conversion of the call between VoIP and analog protocols,and improved call quality associated with carrying the call in digitalformat closer to the called party before conversion back to analog.

Inmate management and call processing systems of the present inventionmay implement outbound dialer and/or interactive voice response (IVR)features, such as to solicit information from a caller, to provide callstatus announcements, to solicit funds for a call, etc. These outbounddialer and/or IVR features may be used to notify persons of thearrestee's incarceration status and/or of an inmate's transfer amongdifferent facilities ahead of time. Additional or alternatively,centralized inmate management and call processing systems of the presentinvention may implement call recording and/or other centralized datacollection, such as through use of a storage area network (SAN),interconnected redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) or fixed diskplatforms, and/or the like. In this manner, initial calls made byarrestees from controlled environment facilities may be recorded forlater investigative uses. Similarly, information, such as called partynumber, uncollectable call statistics, usage frequency or velocity,etc., may be aggregated and/or analyzed across facilities.

Inmate management and call processing systems of certain embodiments ofthe present invention implement a data structure for segmenting callingactivity for each individual facility to control access with respect toeach facility's data and/or to facilitate independent accounting,maintenance, and other functionality, thereby providing, in somerespects, a virtual facility call processor with respect to facilities.For example, administrative personnel of a particular facility arepreferably enabled to perform maintenance and other operations (e.g.,call processor configuration, recorded call playback, billing andcommission record access, etc., with respect to that particularfacility). According to a preferred embodiment, management terminalsdisposed locally at a facility are provided data access to portions ofthe call processing platforms relevant to the operation of that facilityvia the aforementioned call processing gateway, such that it appearsfrom the user's viewpoint as if a local call processor system is beingaccessed and maintained. Additionally or alternatively, independent WANconnections with respect to such management terminals may be supportedaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Itshould be appreciated that the conception and specific embodimentdisclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designingother structures for carrying out the same purposes of the presentinvention. It should also be realized that such equivalent constructionsdo not depart from the invention as set forth in the appended claims.The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of theinvention, both as to its organization and method of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages will be better understood from thefollowing description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, thateach of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration anddescription only and is not intended as a definition of the limits ofthe present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference isnow made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an inmate management and call processing system accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary notification and accountset-up method utilizing the inmate management and call processing systemof FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of a call processing operation of the inmatemanagement and call processing system of FIG. 1 according an embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Directing attention to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a centralized or nodalinmate management and call processing system according to the presentinvention is shown as system 100. System 100 of the illustratedembodiment includes computer-based platform 101 in communication withfacilities 150-180 via network 130. It should be appreciated that,although only a single computer-based platform 101 is represented inFIG. 1, any number of such systems, perhaps having varied configurationsand/or disposed at different geographic locations, may be implementedwith respect to an inmate management and call processing system 100 ofthe present invention. Likewise, the number and configurations offacilities for which calling services may be provided by an inmatemanagement and call processing system of the present invention is notlimited to that shown in FIG. 1.

To better aid the reader in understanding the concepts of the presentinvention, system 100 of FIG. 1 is described herein with reference toits configuration and use in providing calling services to jail orprison facilities. However, it should be appreciated that callprocessing systems of the present invention are not limited to use withrespect to such facilities. Embodiments of the present invention may beutilized with respect to any number of controlled environment facilities(e.g., prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, caps, dormitories, and thelike) or other locations (e.g., businesses, residences, kiosks, etc.).The terms “inmate” and “arrestee” are used interchangeably in thepresent disclosure to describe persons who are temporarily orpermanently residing in controlled environment facilities.

Certain embodiments of the present invention dispose one or more callprocessing gateways, shown here as call processing gateways 140, at ornear sites for which inmate management and call processing services areto be provided, here facilities 150-180. Call processing gateways 140may provide interfacing and arbitration between a number of protocols,signals, and/or interfaces. For example, preferred embodiment callprocessing gateways 140 provide a plurality of analog telephone linesinterfaces (e.g., POTS line interfaces) for coupling to a plurality oftelephone terminals 141 and providing loop current, dial tone, etc.thereto. Preferred embodiment call processing gateways 140 furtherprovide at least one WAN interface (e.g., T1 interface) for coupling toa data, e.g., packet switched, network. Call processing gateways 140 ofthis preferred embodiment provide conversion of analog signalsassociated with telephone terminals 141 and visitation telephones 143and digital data packets of the packet switched network to provide aVoIP gateway. Call processing gateways 140 may include additional oralternative interfaces, such as LAN interfaces (e.g., 100 Mbit Ethernetinterface), wireless interfaces (e.g., 802.11 interface), etc., ifdesired. Embodiments of the present invention utilize commerciallyavailable devices, such as the IAD 2400 series of integrated accessdevices available from Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, Calif., inproviding a call processor gateway.

It should be appreciated that communications provided by call processinggateways 140 utilized according to the present invention are not limitedto communication between devices implementing different protocols and/orsignals. For example, communications between a plurality of telephoneterminals disposed within a particular facility, e.g., visitationtelephones 143 shows in facilities 150 and 180, may be provided by callprocessing gateways 140 of the present invention. Although not requiringsignal/protocol conversion to facilitate communication between two suchsimilarly configured devices, call processing gateways 140 of thepresent invention are preferably leveraged to provide such communicationarbitration, e.g., analog to VoIP and VoIP to analog functionality, toprovide a data stream to computer-based platform 101 containing thecommunication content between such terminals, such as to provide wordsearch and/or call recording as will be described further below.

A plurality of call processing gateways 140 may be disposed with respectto a particular facility, if desired. For example, a plurality of callprocessing gateways 140 may be coupled to cooperate in providing callprocessing services using a network, such as network 144. A networkrouter or switch, such as router 145, may be utilized in coupling callprocessing gateways 140 to computer-based platform 101 via network 130.Router 145 of preferred embodiments may provide communication security,such as in the form of firewall protection, if desired. Of course, othercomponents, such as call processing gateway 140, may be configured toprovide communication security in addition to or in the alternative torouter 145.

A particular configuration and/or number of call processing gateways 140utilized with respect to any of facilities 150-180 is preferablyselected as a function of the facility's configuration. Depending uponthe number of telephone terminals 141 to be provided calling servicesand/or the number of visitation telephones 143 at a particular facility(typically facilities may have from two telephones to approximately 600telephones phones or more based on the physical size of the location), aconfiguration of call processing gateways 140 and/or a number of callprocessing gateways 140 deployed may be selected having more or lessanalog telephone line interfacing capacity. Similarly, depending uponthe communication volume expected to be utilized at a particularfacility, a configuration of call processing gateways 140 and/or anumber of call processing gateways 140 deployed may be selectedproviding more or less bandwidth with respect to a WAN interfacethereof. Where local management terminals (e.g., workstations 142) orother data processing equipment (e.g., justice application management143 and/or commerce system 146) is to be provided WAN access at aparticular facility, a configuration of call processing gateways 140 maybe selected to provide a LAN interface and/or appropriate WAN bandwidth.

The bandwidth of a connection between a particular facility and network130 provided by a carrier access network may be scaled to correspond toan expected communication volume. For example, where relatively fewtelephone terminals 141 and/or visitation telephones 143 are present andmanagement terminal or other data processing equipment communication isexpected to be relatively low, a lower bandwidth connection (e.g.,fraction of T1 or, perhaps in cases where reliability is not an issue,digital subscriber line (DSL) such as asynchronous DSL (ADSL) high bitrate DSL (HDSL) etc. (referred to collectively as xDSL) or cable modemtechnology) may be provided. However, where a large number of telephoneterminals 141 and/or visitation telephones 143 are present and/ormanagement terminal or other data processing equipment communication isexpected to be relatively high, a higher bandwidth connection (e.g., T1or DS3) may be provided. These data links may be aggregated as they passthrough the carrier's access network, thereby providing a largerbandwidth aggregated connection or connections (e.g., OC3 or OCX) fromnetwork 130 to computer-based platform 101.

The data links between call processing gateways 140 and computer-basedplatform 101 are preferably packet switched links, such as thoseprovided using various IP or frame relay protocols. However, any type ofdata connectivity protocol that may be relied upon to deliver VoIP anddata packets may be utilized according to embodiments of the presentinvention. Embodiments of the present invention may utilize carrieraccess network and backbone network links implementing protocols such asEthernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), synchronous optical network(SONET), and the like.

Computer-based platform 101 of the illustrated embodiment includesrouter-switch 118 coupling network 130 to various systems and componentscomprising computer-based platform 101 via network 111. Router/switch118 of preferred embodiments may provide communication security, such asin the form of firewall protection, if desired. Of course, othercomponents, such as validation system 113, may be configured to providecommunication security in addition to or in the alternative torouter/switch 118.

The illustrated embodiment of computer-based platform 101 includes anumber of functional aspects, ones of which may be omitted in optionalconfigurations, shown as various systems cooperating to provide callprocessing according to embodiments of the present invention. Callapplication management system 110, billing system 112, validation system113, unauthorized call activity detection system 114, call treatmentsystem 115, call recording system 116, and media gateway 117 may beutilized in various combinations to provide primary calling servicefunctionality according to embodiments of the present invention. Justiceapplication management system 121 and/or commerce system 122 ofcomputer-based platform 101 may be utilized in providing inmatemanagement functionality as will be described further below. It shouldbe appreciated that, although the illustrated embodiment is describedwith reference to a justice application management system providingenhanced functionality with reference to use in providing callingservices to jail or prison facilities, embodiments of the presentinvention may implement information management systems useful withrespect to a variety of applications, such as hospital management,business management, demographic collection and/or analysis, usagestatistics, etc. Accordingly, justice application management system 121as shown in FIG. 1 may correspond to any number of informationmanagement systems providing data collection and/or sharing amongfacilities as described herein.

Call application management system 110 of the preferred embodiment, asmay comprise one or more processor-based servers as are well known inthe art, forms the heart of call processing functionality provided byinmate management and call processing system 100. For example, preferredembodiments of call application management system 110 control completinga call between a party using any one of telephone terminals 141 orvisitation telephones 143 and another party, such as may be using one ofvisitation telephones 143 or a telephone terminal (not shown) coupled tocomputer-based platform 101 via SIP/MGCP network 191 or PSTN 192.Additionally or alternatively, call application management system 110may include outbound dialer, interactive voice response (IVR),text-to-speech, voice recognition, and/or dual tone multi-frequency(DTMF) recognition/generation functionality such as may be useful forplaying announcements to various ones of the calling and called parties,soliciting information (such as personal identification numbers (PINs),account numbers, called number, etc.) from the parties, signaling othersystems, etc.

Detail with respect to operating in providing call processing by a callapplication manager according to embodiments of the present invention isshown in the above referenced patent application entitled “InformationManagement and Movement System and Method.” However, call applicationmanagement system 110 of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 hereinprovides a data interface coupling call application management system110 to facilities 150-180 via network 130 and providing VoIPcommunication therebetween. Additionally, call application managementsystem 110 of FIG. 1 provides a data interface coupling call applicationmanagement system 110 to user terminals (e.g., telephone terminals, notshown) via SIP/MGCP network 191 and providing VoIP communication throughthe carrier network to a point more near the user terminal. Accordingly,call application manager 110 of a preferred embodiment need notimplement analog voice cards for interfacing with particular userterminals and need not convert between digital and analog signal formatswhen providing communication between particular users.

Call processing platforms of the present invention are not limited tooperation in the digital domain. Accordingly, the illustrated embodimentof computer-based platform 101 includes media gateway 117 incommunication with call application management system 110 via network111. Media gateway 117 of a preferred embodiment, as may comprise one ormore processor-based servers having analog voice cards as are well knownin the art, provides interfacing and arbitration between a number ofprotocols, signals, and/or interfaces, such as to facilitatecommunications between digital VoIP protocols present on network 111 andanalog protocols present on PSTN 192. Using media gateway 117, callapplication management system 110 may provide communications to userterminals (e.g., telephone terminals, not shown) via PSTN 192.

However, it should be appreciated that providing communication to acarrier in digital format, such as SIP or MGCP, may provide severaladvantages. For example, research has revealed that considerable costadvantages with respect to carrying the traffic through the publicnetwork may be realized when the communications are provided to thenetwork in a digital format. The cost savings have been found to besignificant with respect to interstate and interlata calls, such as onthe order of $0.05 to $0.02 per minute. Additionally, issues of latencyin processing digital processed calls may be avoided by providingcommunication to a carrier in digital format by avoiding repeatedconversion between digital and analog formats. Call quality may beimproved through the use of digital communication in as much of thecommunication link as is possible, thereby avoiding signal degradationtypically inherent in analog communication networks.

Embodiments of call processing platforms of the present invention arepreferably coupled to multiple carriers (whether through POTS links,digital links, etc.) to allow switching connections to be made by thecall processing platform based upon considerations such as least costrouting, rate changes, regulatory issues, reliability issues, and/or thelike. Call application management system 110 of one embodiment may makedeterminations with respect to a particular carrier network to utilizein connecting a calling party to a called party on a call by call basisor in response to a particular event. Preferred embodiments of thepresent invention provide the ability to switch quickly betweenavailable carriers in response to an event, such as a service disruptionor rate change. In contrast, distributed call processing systemarchitectures typically require a long period of coordination, physicaldispatch, and often the implementation of different hardware tofacilitate a switch between particular carriers providing callingconnections.

Additionally or alternatively, call application management system 110may cooperate with other systems to provide robust call processingfunctionality. For example, call application management system 110 maycooperate with validation system 113 and/or unauthorized call activitydetection system 114 to provide call intelligence for use indeterminations with respect to allowing a particular call to becontinued. According to one embodiment, unauthorized call activitydetection system 114 provides real-time intelligence with respect tofraudulent or otherwise unauthorized activity being attempted during acall. For example, unauthorized call activity detection system 114 mayemploy silence detection techniques to identify attempts at establishingan unauthorized three-way call. Detail with respect to detectingunauthorized call activity is provided in the above referenced patentapplications entitled “Three-Way Telephone Call Prevention System andMethod” and “System and Method for Detecting Unauthorized CallActivity.”

Call recording system 116 of the illustrated embodiment, as may comprisea SAN providing large amounts of data storage (e.g., terabytes) iscoupled to call application management system 110 and operates undercontrol thereof to store information with respect to calls. Informationstored by call recording system 116 may comprise the content of thecall, i.e., record the conversation or exchange of data provided by thecall. Additionally or alternatively, information stored by callrecording system 116 may comprise ancillary call information, such asidentification of the calling and/or called party, calling number (e.g.,automatic number information (ANI), called number (e.g., dialed numberinformation service (DNIS), time of call, duration of call, accountnumber information, entity responsible for billing the call, and/or thelike. Although the content of a call may be recorded in an analogformat, preferred embodiments of the present invention record thecontent in a digital format to readily facilitate retrieval and/orplayback via digital means, such as upon workstations 142 via network130.

According to embodiments of the invention, call application managementsystem 110 may signal call recording system 116 to record or not recordparticular calls processed by computer-based platform 101. For example,all calls placed from any of facilities 150-180 to any party except anattorney representing a party to the call may be recorded by callrecording system 116. It should be appreciated that, as the content ofthe call is provided in digital form, packets may readily be routed notonly between a call processing gateway 140 and call applicationmanagement system 110 for placing parties in communication, but alsobetween call processing gateway 140, call application management system110, or router 118 and call recording system 116 for archiving thecontent of the call.

Call processing gateways 140 of embodiments of the invention providedigital data streams including the content of calls not necessarilyprocessed by computer-based platform 101 to facilitate recording ofthose calls by call recording system 116. For example, although callapplication management system 110 may not be involved in a particularcall between visitation telephones 143 of a facility, except perhaps toinitially allow the connection and/or establish a time limit or otherparameters for the connection, a data stream containing the content ofthe call may continue to be provided from a call processing gateway 140to computer-based platform 101 to facilitate archiving of the callcontent by call recording system 116.

It should be appreciated that disposing call recording system 116 at thecentralized location associated with computer-based platform 101according to preferred embodiment provides several advantages. Forexample, infrastructure, such as the aforementioned SAN, which otherwisewould be cost prohibitive to deploy with respect to a facility may beutilized in an optimized fashion. Moreover, individual facilities neednot implement backup procedures for the archiving of recorded calls,thereby not only avoiding the administrative burden but quite likelyavoiding the need for additional information technology personnel.

Call recording system 116 of embodiments of the present invention mayprovide functionality in addition to or in the alternative to archivingcall content. For example, call recording system 116 may compriseprocessor-based functionality to analyze the content of calls forinvestigative or other purposes, such as to recognize particular wordsand phrases. Such word search functionality may cooperate withinvestigative functionality, as may be provided by justice applicationmanagement system 121, to alert investigators of a potential threatassociated with a caller's utterance of words such as “kill,” “bomb,” orparticular names such as that of a victim or judge. Further detail withrespect to investigative uses of such word search functionality as wellas investigative functionality which may be provided using a callprocessor is shown in the above referenced patent application entitled“Information Management and Movement System and Method.”

Validation system 113, as may comprise one or more processor-basedservers as are well known in the art, may operate to make determinationswith respect to allowing a particular call to be completed and/orcontinued. For example, validation system 113 may cooperate with callapplication management system 110 when a call is initiated to verify theidentify of the calling party, that the calling party is authorized toplace a call, that the called party will receive calls or is authorizedto receive calls from the calling party, that the calling party and/orcalled party have not exceeded a particular velocity of calls or apreselected value point (e.g., billing limit), that an identifiedprepaid account has sufficient monies to fund the call, that, in thecase of a collect call, a billing arrangement exists between an entityresponsible for billing calls to the called party and the serviceprovider and that the called party presents an acceptable collectionrisk, etc. Detail with respect to call validation functionality isprovided in the above referenced patent applications entitled“Information Management and Movement System and Method,” “OptimizingProfitability in Business Transactions,” “System and Methods forOffering a Service to a Party Associated with a Blocked Call,” and“Systems and Methods for Transaction Authorization Determination.”

It should be appreciated that the validation process as provided byvalidation system 113 of a preferred embodiment provides improvedvalidation determination response as compared to a typical distributedvalidation scheme. For example, where a distributed architecture isutilized, validation often requires a call processor local to thecalling party to establish a link with one or more centralized clearinghouses or other databases to perform a validation. However, thecentralized configuration of the inmate management and call processingarchitecture of FIG. 1 provides for communication between applicationmanagement system 110 and validation system 113 locally, using packettransmissions, thereby facilitating improved validation determinationresponsiveness.

Additionally or alternatively, validation system 113 may cooperate withother systems to provide enhanced call validation. For example,validation system 113 may cooperate with call treatment system 115 toprovide call intelligence for use in the aforementioned determinationswith respect to allowing a particular call to be completed and/orcontinued. Accordingly, robust information, perhaps includinginformation harvested from a signaling network, such as the signalingsystem 7 (SS7) network, may be utilized in call processing bycomputer-based platform 101 of a preferred embodiment. For example,determinations with respect to a call forwarding feature being activatedfor a called number may be made from information available from SS7 dataand, thus validation system 113 may utilize this information in adetermination as to whether the call should be completed. Detail withrespect to use of call intelligence for use in making determinationswith respect to the treatment of calls is shown in the above referencedpatent application entitled “System and Method for Call Treatment.”

Additionally or alternatively, validation system 113 may cooperate withother systems of inmate management and call processing system 100 toprovide robust call processing functionality. For example, whenidentifying a call going to a certain telephone number, rather thanblocking the call attempt, validation system 113 may cooperate withjustice application management system 121 to notify an investigator thata call was made to that telephone number and/or to forward the callcontent for monitoring purposes to an investigator's telephone (e.g.,cell phone or office phone) number. Detail with respect to suchintelligence functionality is provided in the above referenced patentapplication entitled “Information Management and Movement System andMethod.”

Billing system 112, as may comprise one or more processor-based serversas are well known in the art, may operate to provide accounting,billing, and/or reconciliation of charges for calling and other servicesprovided by call processing system 100. For example, billing system 112may cooperate with call application management system 110 to collectbilling information with respect to calls processed by call processingplatform 101. This information may be used in real-time to deduct moniesfrom prepaid accounts associated with a party to the call, to compilecall detail records for out-clearing to local exchange carriersproviding service to a called party, to provide direct billing by theservice provider, etc. Detail with respect to accounting, billing, andreconciliation functionality is provided in the above referenced patentapplications entitled “Information Management and Movement System andMethod,” “System and Method for Reverse Billing of a Telephone Call,”“Method for Determining an Entity Responsible for Billing a CalledParty,” and “Method and Apparatus for Exchanging Data Between a PrimaryComputer System and an External Computer System to Ensure TransactionReconciliation Between the Systems.”

Additionally or alternatively, billing system 112 may cooperate withother systems to provide robust call processing functionality. Forexample, billing system 112 may cooperate with validation system 113 toprovide billing information or portions thereof for use in theaforementioned determinations with respect to allowing a particular callto be completed and/or continued. As a specific example, debit cardamounts may be debited real time by billing system 112 and the debitcard threshold monitored by validation system 113 to shut off a callimmediately upon crossing the debit card threshold. Accordingly,real-time, dynamic control of call processing services may be providedby embodiments of the present invention without the delay associatedwith periodic polling of distributed and/or discrete systems.

Billing system 112 of embodiments of the present invention implementsvarious functionality to facilitate the performance of revenue producingservices and/or to optimize the amounts of revenues and/or profitsattained. For example, billing system 112 may cooperate with validationsystem 113 and/or call application management system 110 to solicitfunds from a party or create a prepaid account when a collection risk isdetermined to be unacceptably high or monies are not otherwise availableto fund a call. Accordingly, embodiments of the present inventionprovide the ability to set up a call account real-time, e.g., when acaller picks up a telephone terminal in a served facility but has notalready established a way to bill the call. Detail with respect to suchfunctionality is shown in the above referenced patent applicationentitled “System and Method for Account Establishment and TransactionManagement Using Interrupt Messaging.”

Billing system 112 may additionally or alternatively provide intelligentmanagement of accounts receivable, such s to hold out-clearing of calldetail records to local exchange carriers to consolidate call charges onbilling statements, to maintain visibility and control with respect toaccounts, to allow flexibility in account collection, etc. Detail withrespect to intelligent account management functionality is shown in theabove referenced patent application entitled “Intelligent Queuing ofTransaction Requests.”

It should be appreciated that, because computer-based platform 101 ofthe preferred embodiment provides call processing with respect to aplurality of facilities, embodiments of the present invention includethe capability to segment the data being stored in relation to eachfacility. For example, all of the calling records, all the callrecordings, system parameters and configuration settings, etc. may betagged or otherwise associated with the facility to which it belongs.Using such information, system 100 of a preferred embodiment is able tocontrol access to the data when a user logs onto the central data from afacility, based on their logon ID information, where they are logging infrom, or other information. A user logging on from a particular facilitymay be provided only information associated with that facility for whichtheir logon ID provides them access. For example, a user at workstation142 at facility 180 may be provided access to play recorded calls madefrom facility 180, provided the user's logon ID permits such activity.Similarly, a user at workstation 142 at facility 160 may be allowed tochange configuration settings, such as pre-selected value pointsestablishing billing limits, blocked telephone numbers, etc., affectingoperation of call processing platform 101 with respect to facility 160,provided that user's logon ID permits such activity. Of course, usingappropriate security protocols, users are not limited to data access tothe call processing platform from terminals disposed at the variousfacilities and, therefore, may access aspects of the systems from otherremote locations.

It should be appreciated that a virtual local facility call processorsystem is provided using the aforementioned management terminalsdisposed locally at a facility and coupled to the centralized callprocessing platform via a data connection. Accordingly, a facility canenjoy the benefits of having a call processor system without the fullexpense of such systems. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, afacility may have only a few telephone terminals, a general purposecomputer system for use as a management terminal, and a data networkconnection coupled to a call processing gateway in order to receive thebenefits of a full featured call processing system of the presentinvention. Expansion and updating of such a call processing system withrespect to each facility is highly simplified as most updates andexpansions may be accomplished centrally, at the call processingplatform, without direct involvement of the facility or its personnel.Where the facility or its personnel are involved in an expansion orupdate, such as to increase communication capacity, the level of suchinvolvement is insubstantial, such as to deploy additional callprocessing gateways, connect additional telephone terminals thereto, andprovide a network connection.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, the centralizedconfiguration of inmate monitoring and call processing system 100 may beutilized to provide data sharing, aggregation, and/or analysis across aplurality of controlled environment facilities. According to one suchembodiment, particular facilities, such as facilities within a samecounty or state are provided shared data access to collect intelligence,to improve facility management, to minimize administrative burden, etc.

Using the data management techniques and user interfaces describedherein, inmate monitoring and call processing system 100 may allowsegmented views into an inmate management database. An inmate managementdatabase may comprise one or more data centers containing informationabout inmates, arrestees, incidents, visitors, or other groups ofinterest. Further, the inmate management database may be managed byjustice application management system 121 or by a dedicated inmatemanagement system (not shown) similar to justice application managementsystem 121. For example, the inmate management database may beimplemented within justice application management system 121, or callrecording system 116, or the dedicated inmate management system.

In one illustrative embodiment, facility 150 may be a local policedepartment and facility 170 may be a municipal or city jail to whichinmates temporarily held at the police department are transferred. Forexample, police department computers may connect to router 118 vianetwork 130 using a DSL connection, a telephone-level connection (e.g.,when the phone goes off hook it may ring into a 1-800 number whichallows a data call to be processed as a regular telephone call), etc.Upon connection with computer-based platform 101, the querying andmaintenance of information stored in the inmate management database andmanaged, for example, by justice application management system 121, maybe provided through graphical user interfaces (GUIs) or the like.

It should be appreciated that access to data made available by callprocessing systems of the present invention is not limited to dataconnections from a facility site, such as WAN connections fromworkstations 142 to computer-based platform 101. For example, access tosuch data may be provided via an application service provider (ASP) typeconfiguration, such as may be provided via the Internet. An ASP hostingsite may be collocated with other functional aspects of a callprocessing platform of the present invention or could be hosted at otherlocations, such as using WAN connections to computer-based platform 101.

Certain embodiments of the present invention enable a police officer orlaw enforcement personnel to search for a warrant for an individual(e.g., at a traffic stop or the like). If an outstanding warrant isfound during database search, the officer may make an initialdetermination of whether or not to arrest the individual. Followingarrest, the database is preferably updated, in real-time, in such amanner that the satisfied status of the obligation is synchronizedacross the state, country or other jurisdiction. This procedureeliminates the problem of having the same party being pulled over twiceand/or jailed for an outstanding warrant previously taken care of, asdetailed in the above referenced co-pending patent application entitled“Systems and Methods for Real-Time Obligation Search, Payment, andUpdate.”

If the officer decides to arrest the individual, the inmate or anarrestee is typically picked up by a police squad car (or any othermobile police station), and inmate and/or incident records may becreated and retrieved from the squad car even before the arresteereaches police department 150. When information is retrieved and/orcollected from a squad car, transmission of data between the squad carand inmate management database of computer based-system 101 may utilizea cellular or wireless links into router/switch 118 via network 130. Assuch, the interfaces provided according to the present invention may bevaried depending upon the individual given access and/or thefunctionality available to the individual. Therefore, access to theinmate management database may be had via computer systems (local and/orremote) personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, and telephones(wireline and/or wireless) to facilitate input of data, querying ofdata, notification of events or conditions, etc.

During a booking procedure according to one example, police personnelmay first search inmate records within an inmate management databasecoupled to computer-based platform 101, such as within justiceapplication management system 121, to determine whether a particulararrestee has already been assigned an inmate number or code as a resultof prior arrests. If an inmate number exists for that arrestee, his orher record is retrieved from the inmate management database and may bemodified to include new or updated information about the inmate.Similarly, police personnel may search incident records within the imagemanagement database to determine whether the incident giving rise to thearrest has already been catalogued with a corresponding incident number,and may create such an incident number if the search does not returnsatisfactory results. Moreover, police personnel may also associate theexisting inmate record with the incident record.

If the arrestee does not yet have an inmate number associated with himor her, the inmate may be uniquely coded, such as by assigning a inmatenumber or using other information (e.g., driver's license number and/orsocial security number), and may be given a machine readable version ofthat code (e.g., a barcoded wristband). Additionally or alternatively,biometric data, such as may be collected at the time of arrest orotherwise, may be implemented in uniquely identifying inmates.Furthermore, an incident record having an incident number containinginformation related to the events giving rise to the arrest may becreated, linked to the inmate's record, and stored in the inmatemanagement database.

In one embodiment, the inmate record contains information related to theinmate such as physical description, social security number, driver'slicense number, impounded property, biometric data, etc. Examples ofbiometric data include voice print, finger print, iris and/or retinascan, hand scan, face and/or personal physical attribute recognition,and the like. This data may be collected through the use of fingerprintreaders, hand scanners, cameras, microphones, iris and/or retinascanners, and/or the like. In such embodiments, police department 150may be equipped with biometric interfaces for use in collectingappropriate biometric data for use in connection with the inmatemanagement and call processing system 100. For example, a personalcomputer, PDA, and/or telephone terminal utilized according to thepresent invention may be equipped with a camera, whether still or movingimage, to capture an image of a user's face or other physical attribute.It should be appreciated that the aforementioned camera (and similarly,microphones) utilized for collection of biometric data need not beuniquely adapted for biometric data processing and, therefore, may bereadily available for use according to the present invention. Further,police department 150 may also be equipped with a card scanner forreading the arrestee's driver's license or the like.

The inmate record may also contain information related to the arrestsuch as the date of the arrest, reasons for the arrest, the identity ofthe arresting officer, the identity of other persons arrested inconnection with the same incident, etc. In addition to the foregoing,the inmate record may comprise the contact information of third partiesknown to the inmate (e.g., family members, friends, attorneys, etc.)such as their names, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mailaddresses, or the like. Third party contact information may have beenoriginally collected, for example, for the purpose of determining who tocontact in case of an emergency, who will post bail, or who willretrieve the arrestee's personal effects, etc. Once collected, however,this information may be advantageously used for additional purposesconsistent with the present invention. For example, third party contactinformation may be utilized by computer-based platform 101 to notify thethird party of the inmate's incarceration and/or transfer betweendifferent facilities, and also to establish one or more accounts fortelephone usage and other transactions (e.g., purchasing of commissaryitems) made by the inmate while residing in a particular facility. Inthis manner, while the inmate benefits from having the third partyautomatically notified of his or her status, the controlled environmentfacility also benefits from having an inmate account set up to maximizeits revenues. These features are described in more detail with respectto FIG. 2 below.

While at police department 150, the inmate may be placed in a temporaryholding cell or the like. A plurality of arrestees or inmates may beincarcerated in the same holding cell, from which they may be allowed tomake phone calls. Ordinarily, it would be impossible to determine if anyparticular detainee has accessed a telephone disposed in the holdingcell, must less monitor or record those calls. This is unfortunate giventhat phone calls made from a holding cell or booking phone often havethe most important investigative value because they are most likely tocontain confessions to family members, requests to co-conspirators, andthe like. However, using the systems and methods described herein, allcalls made by an inmate may be linked to the inmate's record via theinmate's PIN or code, and their contents may be recorded by callrecording system 116 for later investigative uses. For example, theinmate may be required to input his or her PIN number before beingallowed to dial the phone. Additionally or alternatively, a biometricdevice may be coupled to the phone to authorize calls. Therefore, allcalls made by the inmate may be associated with him or her and/orcharged to the account previously established for the inmate.Additionally or alternatively, records of each call may be kept and thenbilled when an account is eventually set up. These calls may be furtherprocessed by the call processing systems described herein to implementcall restrictions, recording, monitoring, warnings, and other functions.

Records stored into the inmate management database are accessible to aplurality of controlled environment facilities such as, for example,county and municipal jails, state penitentiaries, federal prisons, andthe like. Therefore, when an inmate is transferred from local policedepartment facility 150 to jail 170, the inmate's unique code (such asmight be scanned from the aforementioned barcoded wristband) may beutilized to populate a database entry of facility 170, such as withinjustice application management system 121 of computer-based platform 101and/or justice application management system 143 of facility 170.Accordingly, the administrative time associated with soliciting andentering such information is foregone, and the additional opportunityfor data entry error is avoided.

When the inmate arrives at the county jail, the jail may supplement theinmate record with information used specifically by this facility,information useful in housing the inmate for a long period of time, etc.For example, jail staff may collect additional information about theinmate, including personality traits, medical requirements, criminalcharges, etc. to perform a classification procedure (e.g., to determinewhom the inmate may be safely housed) or the like. Throughout theinmate's incarceration, visitation records containing the name of thevisitor and time/duration of visit may be created and linked to theinmate record. Other records that may be associated with the inmateinclude, for example, call records, medical records, and the like.Accordingly, jail staff may periodically retrieve and update theinmate's record from the inmate management database of system 100.Moreover, each record within the inmate management database may have a“history” associated therewith, so that the history of all additions,deletions, and modifications made to an inmate (or incident record iskept (e.g., time of modification, name of facility making themodification, name of staff within the facility, etc.).

Advantages in the sharing, aggregation, and/or analysis of data extendsbeyond the situation where associated or otherwise affiliated facilitiesshare data. Where a large number of facilities are coupled to acentralized call processing system of the present invention, such datasharing, aggregation, and/or analysis provides appreciable advantages inconducting investigative operations. For example, an appreciable amountof homeland security intelligence may be gleaned from data derived fromall of the inmates and all of the facilities, such as all of theircalling records, all of their calling patterns, all of their callrecordings, etc., which might be scrubbed and parsed to find patternsindicative of particular activities. Furthermore, although the inmatetransfers described above are “vertical” transfers (e.g., policedepartment to county jail), a person of ordinary skill in the art wouldimmediately recognize that the data sharing, aggregation, and/oranalysis functionality described herein is equally advantageous insituations involving “horizontal” transfers (e.g., between two countyjails) or “intra-facility” transfers.

It will be recognized that some of the information collocated during aspecific procedure and/or period of incarceration may be useful only toa particular controlled environment facility (e.g., the cell numberwhere the inmate is held). Therefore, not all information contained inan inmate record may be of value to a subsequent facility where theinmate may be eventually transferred to. Accordingly, in one embodimentof the present invention, each controlled environment facility may havethe ability supplement existing inmate records with their owninformation and/or customize views into each record so that preferablyonly information fields that have particular relevance are shown.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a flow diagram of an exemplary inmate processingmethod according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Instep 201, information collected by an arresting and/or booking officerregarding an arrestee is received at inmate management system or justiceapplication management system 121 of computer-based platform 101 tocreate an inmate record in an inmate management database. In step 202,the inmate record is analyzed to identify whether any third partiesshould be notified of the arrest. In some embodiments, third parties arenotified of the arrest when the inmate has given consent to thenotification. Additionally or alternatively, notification is sent whenauthorized or required by law. As such, a notification is sent in step203, otherwise the method proceeds to step 204. For example, thisnotification may be performed utilizing outbound calling and/or IVRfunctionality of call application management system 110 to make a callto the third party, by sending an automatically generated e-mail to thethird party, or the like. The contents of such notification may include,for example, the name of the inmate, the date and place of the arrest,and the place where the inmate can be found for visitation purposes, ifapplicable. In one embodiment, different information is delivered todifferent types of third parties as authorized by the arrestee and/orrequired by law.

In step 204, the inmate record is again analyzed to identify whether anythird parties should be contacted to set up an inmate account. Again,this determination may be made, for example, when the arrestee givesconsent and/or when authorized by law. Inmate accounts may be pre-paid,post-paid, debit, and/or a credit accounts which may be used to chargethe cost telephone calls and/or the purchase of commissary items to thethird party. To establish the account in step 206, inmate management andcall processing system 100 may request information from the inmate'scontact, for example, again utilizing IVR functionality of callapplication management system 110.

In one alternative embodiment, steps 202 and 204 may be performedsimultaneously so that the establishment of an inmate account may beattempted during the notification process and/or upon arrest. Further,as noted above, inmates are frequently transferred among divergentcontrolled environment facilities. For instance, the same accountcreated upon arrest or while the inmate is incarcerated at a firstcontrolled environment facility may continue to be used when the inmateis later transferred to a subsequent facility. Alteratively, additionalinmate accounts are set up, preferably ahead of the transfer.

In another embodiment, third party information may be collected by apolice officer upon arrest of the inmate, and a corresponding accountmay be set up quickly enough for the inmate to be able use that accountimmediately upon arrival at the police department. When the initiallyprovided third party contact information does allow the system to createan account (e.g., wrong third party phone number, etc.), or when theaccount set up process does not take place quickly enough for immediateuse (e.g., third party must wire funds from a bank account into theinmate account), a booking officer later has the opportunity to correctthe problem at the police department. In this manner, the later createdinmate account may be used as a post-paid account to pay for calls andservices previously consumed by the inmate (and kept track of by thepolice department) during the period of detention at the policedepartment. In any event, the third party information collected uponarrest and during booking may be used to expedite account set up whenthe inmate is transferred from the police department to a city jail.Furthermore, even when the account set up process is not sufficientlyfast, all the information collected may still expedite account set upwhen the inmate is transfer from the city jail to a county jail, or insubsequent transfers.

Inmate management and call processing system 100 may operate to set up adebit account, such as within billing and/or commerce system 122 ofcomputer-based platform 101, where the inmate, or family and friendsthereof, may deposit funds. The funds of an inmate debit account maylater be utilized for such services as placing telephone calls fromwithin the controlled environment facility. Anytime an inmate makes acall, they may be required to utilize their PIN and/or some otheridentifier such as the aforementioned biometric information, otherwisethe call may be blocked and/or monitored. An account associated with thePIN or biometric data may then be accessed to determine if funds areavailable for placing the call. Such a determination may includeanalysis of information such as the dialed number (such as for call rateinformation) and perhaps historical information, such as the averagelength of a call to this number by the inmate. If sufficient funds areavailable the call may be placed, and preferably is continuouslymonitored so as to release the call if the account funds are exhaustedduring the call and/or to provide investigative information as describedabove. However, if sufficient funds are not available, the call may beblocked.

If insufficient funds are present in an inmate's account or an inmatedoes not have an account, operation of the present invention may attemptto obtain alternate funding for the desired service. For example, callapplication management system 110 of inmate management and callprocessing system 100 may place a call to a third party associated withthe inmate and/or account allowing them to replenish or establish theaccount on behalf of the inmate if they desire to receive the phonecall. For example, when a call is blocked call application managementsystem 110 may place an automated call to the called party asking ifthey would like to accept the call and, if so, providing instructions asto how funding for the call may be provided. The called party may beallowed to input credit card information over the telephone forreplenishing the inmate's account, for example. Additionally oralternatively, various retail or other geographically disbursedlocations, such as grocery stores, check cashing facilities, rent-to-ownstores, telegraph offices, money order sellers, and the like, may beenabled to accept payment for an account, thereby providing convenienceto a cash paying party. Systems and methods for obtaining such funds aredetailed in the above referenced co-pending patent application entitled“Optimizing Profitability in Business Transactions.”

Similarly, if insufficient funds are present in an inmate's account oran inmate does not have an account, operation of the present inventionmay allow post paid funding for goods and/or services. For example, acredit risk analysis may be performed with respect to the called partyto determine if billing as a collect call is acceptable. Systems andmethods for providing such reversed charges for calls as well as formaking a credit worthiness determination are shown and described in theabove referenced co-pending patent application entitled “System andMethod for Reverse Billing of a Telephone Call” and “OptimizingProfitability in Business Transactions.”

It should be appreciated that operation of the present invention asdescribed above establishes a relationship with both the calling andcalled parties. For example, call application management system 110 mayprovide detailed information such as what called party an inmate calls,when they get calls, and how many times they are called. Additionally,information may be obtained as to the creditworthiness of the calledparty, how they pay, when they pay, etc. This information may beutilized according to the present invention in a number of ways, such asto provide better service to the inmate and/or called party.

For example, many inmate facilities have a commissary, which providesgoods to the inmates in exchange for money. A non-inmate, such as aparty which has been called by an inmate, may be enabled to open adeposit account and/or refill the account on behalf of the inmate forcharging the purchases by that inmate. The inmate may utilize thisaccount for purchasing goods and/or services for the inmate's benefit orfor the benefit of others. For example, the commissary service or anexternal service in communication with the information management systemmay allow an inmate to select a gift, such as a bouquet of flowers, fordelivery to a loved one on a special occasion. Moreover, informationavailable to the information management system, such as an inmate'sbirthday and the fact that he has called a particular individual anumber of times, may be utilized to contact the particular individualand market items for the benefit of the inmate and/or the individual.Furthermore, such a system may be utilized to simplify the process forbail payments by enabling friends or family to deposit money into theaccounts easily. For example, a family member may deposit cash throughany of the aforementioned retail or other locations or by using a creditcard, such as over the phone.

It should be appreciated that additional advantages of embodiments of acentralized call processing system are exemplified in the foregoingexample. Enhanced features may be provided with respect to a facilitywhich might not otherwise have the funding or work load to fully justifythe expense for the corresponding infrastructure. For example, justiceapplication management, which may comprise a back office softwareproduct for a jail to facilitate management of the inmates in thefacility (e.g., what cells they are assigned to, what medications are tobe administered to them, tracking their medical records, tracking theirprivileges, etc.), management of facility personnel (e.g., schedulingworking hours, tracking vacation days, administering benefits, etc.),management of facility resources (e.g., scheduling use of vehicles andconference rooms, establishing telephone availability schedules, etc.),and/or providing intelligence functionality (e.g., investigativeanalysis of call and money flow data, analyzing call and commercetransaction velocity, etc.), may be highly desirable to all offacilities 150-180 but economically out of reach of all but the largestof these facilities. However, because a plurality of facilities areserved, infrastructure costs may be spread across a number of suchfacilities to make it practical to provide such enhanced features to anyor all facilities.

Moreover, although larger facilities are free to take advantage of suchshared infrastructure, embodiments of the present invention accommodatedistributed deployment of such infrastructure, such as where a facilityhas a legacy system in place or where a facility has a sufficient workload to justify local deployment of particular infrastructure. In thecase where justice application management system 143 is disposed locallywith respect to a facility, embodiments of the present invention mayprovide backhauling of data to the centralized call processing platformfor backup purposes, for centralized storage, for sharing, etc.Additionally or alternatively, the data network provided by inmatemanagement and call processing system 100 may be utilized to link two ormore justice application management systems 143 for sharing of databetween facilities. The data connections via network 130 of theillustrated embodiment facilitate sharing of data in any of theforegoing configurations.

It should be recognized that may features provided by certainembodiments of the present invention are highly beneficial to penalinstitutions at every level of government. By using the systems andmethods described herein, city and municipal jails i.e., “lower-level”facilities) may promote themselves in the community as institutions thatare concerned with the well-being of their inmates (i.e., they providenotifications to family members, set up inmate accounts, etc.). Inaddition, city jails can take advantage of revenue opportunities thatdid not previously exist. City jails may also take advantage fromautomation and call control features not otherwise available to them.Meanwhile, county jails (i.e., “higher-level” facilities) benefitinsofar the administrative burdens associated with inmate and datamanagement are reduced (e.g., they may access inmate informationpreviously entered by lower-level facilities upon arrest, booking,temporary incarceration, etc.). County jails also benefit from havingaccounts set up for their prospective inmates in advance of theirtransfer from the municipality, thus increasing revenues and minimizingpotential losses. These and other mutual benefits should induce lower-and higher-level facilities to work together and share some of the costsof obtaining and installing the systems described herein.

Enhanced functionality provided by embodiments of centralized callprocessing systems of the present invention is not limited to theaforementioned justice application management functionality. Forexample, in addition to or in the alternative to justice applicationmanagement system 121 disposed at a call processing platform of thepresent invention, commerce system 122 may be disposed at a callprocessing platform to provide various commerce functions. For example,inmates or other residents of facilities 150-180 may utilize telephoneterminals 141 to place commissary orders, such as for candy bars,cigarettes, bed sheets, toiletries, etc. By bringing all this data backto a central site, embodiments of the present invention enable acommissary company to readily deploy commissary functionality withrespect to a number of facilities which might not otherwise beeconomically feasible to do so. Moreover, commissary data with respectthe various facilities may be aggregated for electronic delivery to thecommissary company, without the commissary company having to deal withplacing commissary systems at every facility to collect this data. Ofcourse, as with the justice application management functionalitydiscussed above, where such functionality is provided locally withrespect to a facility, such as by commerce systems 146, the data linksof the present invention facilitate operation therewith.

It should be appreciated that the use of resources in addition to theaforementioned call application management system, call recordingsystem, justice application management system, and commerce system maybe optimized by embodiments of the present invention. For example,customer service agents (not shown) may be provided with respect toinmate management and call processing system 101 to provide such as callassistance and the like, even where call volume associated with any oneof facilities 150-180 is insufficient to economically support suchpersonnel.

Similarly, the use of communication lines may be optimized using acentralized configuration of the present invention. For example, wherediscrete call processing systems are deployed with respect tofacilities, it may be necessary to purchase telephone lines on the orderof one to every two or three telephone terminals provided at thefacility. However, centralizing configurations of the present inventionare expected to allow improved telephone trunking such that telephonelines on the order of one to every four or five telephone terminalsserved at the facilities by the call processing platform will besufficient. Such efficiencies in telephone trunking may be achievedbecause each of the facilities is unlikely to be experiencing similarcalling demand simultaneously. For example, the call processing systemmay provide services to facilities in different time zones, allowing onefacility to utilize telephone lines at a time another facility is notusing the telephone lines. Additionally, some facilities may beexperiencing periods of exceptionally low telephone utilization, such asduring lock-down, allowing the system to readily accommodate otherfacilities experiencing periods of exceptionally high telephoneutilization, such as associated with a facility providing unusuallynumerous break periods to inmates. The variations in calling across allof the facilities allows centralized call processing systems of thepresent invention to optimize utilization of bandwidth.

It should be appreciated that the aforementioned trunking of resourcesat the call processing platform substantially mitigates capacitylimitations with respect to each particular facility. For example,rather than being limited at any one instant to processing a number ofcalls equal to the individual telephone lines (or telephone lineequivalents) purchased with respect to a particular facility,embodiments of the present invention will allow processing of a numberof calls equal to the number of telephone terminals at a particularfacility. Such instantaneous peak capacities may be accommodated in partby embodiments of the present invention taking advantage of the factthat digital communication (e.g., VoIP) allows aggregating calls intoless bandwidth as well as taking advantage of the optimized utilizationof bandwidth as discussed above.

Having described embodiments of the various aspects of an inmatemanagement and call processing system of the present invention above,reference will now be made to FIG. 3 wherein a flow diagram of operationof the platform in providing calling services according to an embodimentis shown. Operation according to the flow diagram illustrated in FIG. 3begins at step 301 were a calling party places a telephone terminal,such as one of telephone terminals 141, in an off hook condition. Atstep 302, a call processing gateway, such as one of call processinggateways 140, coupled to the telephone terminal establishes a linkedbetween the telephone terminal and a centralized call processingplatform of the present invention, such as computer-based platform 101.The link between the telephone terminal and call processing platform maybe established by call processing gateway providing loop current to thetelephone terminal and beginning a VoIP packet flow directed to an IPaddress associated with the call processing platform via a packetnetwork, such as network 130.

At step 303 of the illustrated flow diagram, the call processingplatform interacts with the calling party and collects call data, suchas by utilizing IVR functionality of call application management system110. The aforementioned interaction with the calling party may comprisesoliciting calling party identification information and/or presentingmenu options, such as may allow selection of placing an outbound call,ordering commissary items, and checking an account balance. These menuselections may present further queries based upon the menu selectionmade. For example, when the calling party selects placing an outboundcall, the call application management system may solicit a number to becalled and a desired payment method (e.g., prepaid account, postpaidaccount, collect call, etc.).

Assuming outbound calling services are desired, the illustrated flowdiagram proceeds to step 304 wherein the call application managementsystem interacts with the validation system to determine call treatment.For example, validation system 113 may analyze calling partyidentification information to verify that the party has outbound callingprivileges at the present time. Additionally or alternatively,validation system 113 may analyze the number to be called to verify thatcalls are allowed to be placed to that number. Validation system 113 mayfurther analyze the desired payment method, perhaps interacting withcall treatment system 115 and/or billing system 112, to determine ifsufficient funds are available to allow the call and/or to determine ifan acceptable risk with respect to collecting monies is associated withthe desired payment method.

A determination is made at step 305 with respect to whether the call isauthorized based upon information provided by the validation system. Ifthe call is determined not to be authorized at step 305, processingaccording to the illustrated embodiment proceeds to step 306 wherein thecall application management system does not connect the call, perhapsplaying a message to the calling party stating the reason(s) the callwill not be completed. However, if the call is determined to beauthorized at step 305, processing according to the illustratedembodiment proceeds to step 307 wherein the call application managementsystem connects the call.

It should be appreciated that processing of the call according toembodiments of the invention to this point in the illustrated flowdiagram has been in the digital domain, with the exception of the linkbetween the telephone terminal and the call processing gateway.Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide connection of thecall to a carrier network, such as SIP/MGCP network 191, in digitalformat. However, embodiments of the present invention may provideconnection of the call to a carrier network, such as PSTN 192, in analogformat, such as by call application management system 110 cooperatingwith media gateway 117 to connect the call.

There is no limitation according to the present invention thatconnection to a carrier network being provided at the centralizedlocation of the call processing platform. For example, a caller in aparticular facility may place a call to a called party which is local tothe facility, whereas the centralized location is not. In such asituation, call application management system 110 of an embodiment ofthe present invention may implement the call connection by “hairpinning”the call content data (e.g., VoIP data packets) back through network 130to the call processing gateway 140 of the particular facility andcontrolling call processing gateway 140 to connect the data stream to aninterface coupled to a local carrier line, where such a line has beenprovided. Even where such local carrier connections are supported,embodiments of the present invention continue to provide call contentdata streams from the call processing gateway to the call processingplatform, such as for recording of the call by call recording system116, accounting for the call by billing system 112, and/or real-timemonitoring of the call by call application management system 110,unauthorized call activity detection system 114, and/or word searchfunctionality of call recording system 116.

It should be appreciated that the aforementioned redirection of the callcontent data stream for local carrier connection at a facility is notlimited to redirection at the facility at which the calling party islocated. For example, it may be determined that, although a called partyis not local to the call processing platform, the called party is localto a facility of the call processing system other than that associatedwith the calling party. Accordingly, where that facility supports localcarrier connections, a call application management system of the presentinvention may redirect the call content data flow for local connectionby that facility.

Although it may appear at first impression that connection of callcontent data streams to carrier networks at a centralized location suchas that associated with call processing platform 101 may unnecessarilyincur long distance and other toll charges, research has revealed thatcontrary to such conventional thoughts significant savings may be hadthrough an embodiment employing centralized carrier connection. In atypical scenario, one may expect a pay approximately $0.05 per minutefor intralata calling and from approximately $0.02 to $0.03 per minutefor interstate calling where significant call volume is present. Alsotypically, one may expect to pay no per minute charges for interlatacalling, although a monthly line charge will be incurred for having lineavailability. In contrast, however, research has revealed that intralataand interstate calling may be provided for per minute charges on theorder of $0.01 when calls are delivered to the carrier network indigital format (e.g., SIP), which presents a significant savings overthe above interlata call charges and appreciable savings over the aboveinterstate call charges. Accordingly, even where calls local to afacility and would not otherwise experience a per minute charge,embodiments of the present invention are expected to provide economicsavings by backhauling the call to a centralized location for connectionto a carrier network. These economic advantages are further expected tobe enhanced through the optimization of bandwidth, as discussed above,allowing a reduced number of total lines to be purchased, therebylowering the monthly line charges to the service provider.

Continuing with the flow diagram illustrated in FIG. 3, after connectinga call at step 307, the call application management system interactswith other systems of the call processing platform in providing acontinued connection at step 308. For example, call applicationmanagement system 110 may signal call recording system 116 to record thecall content. Additionally or alternatively, call application managementsystem 110 may cooperate with unauthorized call activity detectionsystem 114 to ensure that a calling or called party does not implementan unauthorized calling feature, such as three-way calling, during thecall.

At step 309 a determination is made as to whether the call isterminated. For example, call application management system 110 maydetermine that an attempt has been made to implement an unauthorizedcalling feature and therefore may terminate the call. Similarly, callapplication management system 110 may determine that a call time limitor account balance has expired and therefore may terminate the call.Alternatively, either of the calling or called parties may terminate thecall. If it is desired that the call has not been terminated at step309, the illustrated embodiment returns to step 308 for the callapplication management system to continue interaction with other systemsof the call processing platform in providing a continued connection.However, if it is determined that the call has been terminated at step309, processing according to the illustrated embodiment proceeds to step310 wherein the call application management system releases the call.

Although embodiments herein have been described with reference totelephone terminals, it should be appreciated that the present inventionis not limited to use with respect to any particular type of userdevice. For example, video phones, multi-media computers, cellularphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and the like may be coupledto an inmate management and call processing system of the presentinvention for providing the aforementioned services, if desired.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described indetail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the invention asdefined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the presentapplication is not intended to be limited to the particular embodimentsof the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means,methods and steps described in the specification. As one will readilyappreciate from the disclosure, processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing orlater to be developed that perform substantially the same function orachieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodimentsdescribed herein may be utilized. Accordingly, the appended claims areintended to include within their scope such processes, machines,manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

1. A computer-based system, at a plurality of facilities, for managinginmate information, each of the facilities having one or more telephoneterminals and computer terminals, the computer-based system locatedremotely from at least one of the plurality of facilities, the systemcomprising: a networking device exchanging Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) data packets with call processing gateways at the plurality offacilities over digital data links, the call processing gatewaysprocessing the VoIP data packets to or from the telephone terminals fortransmission over the digital data links; an inmate management-systemcoupled to the networking device for providing shared data access ofinmate records to computer terminals at said plurality of facilities,said inmate records created with first inmate information collected froma first computer terminal at a first facility of the plurality offacilities and modified responsive to collecting second inmateinformation from a second computer terminal at a second facility of theplurality of facilities; and a call application management systemconnecting a call to or from the telephone terminals over a telephonecarrier network responsive to receiving a request for connecting thecall and the call being authorized based on the inmate records providedby the inmate management system.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein saidinmate records comprise at least one of physical description of inmates,social security numbers of the inmates, driver's license numbers of theinmates, biometric data of the inmates, information related to thearrest of the inmates, and contact information of third partiesassociated with the inmates.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein saidinmate records comprise a call record associated with inmates.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said records comprise a call recordingassociated with inmates.
 5. The computer-based system of claim 1,wherein said plurality of facilities comprise a mobile police station.6. The computer-based system of claim 1, wherein the plurality offacilities comprise different types of facilities.
 7. The computer-basedsystem of claim 1, wherein the inmate management system is furtherconfigured to control access to the inmate records based on logoninformation received from the computer terminals.
 8. The computer-basedsystem of claim 7, wherein the inmate management system further storesinmate accounts for charging fees to the third parties associated withthe inmates for connecting calls placed by the inmates from theplurality of telephone terminals.
 9. The computer-based system of claim8, wherein the inmate accounts are charged for expenses incurred by saidinmates for an activity other than placing the calls.
 10. A method formanaging inmate information at multiple facilities including a firstfacility and a second facility, each facility comprising multipletelephone terminals and computer terminals, the method carried out in acomputer-based system located remotely from at least one of the multiplefacilities, the method comprising: receiving, from a first computerterminal at the first facility, first inmate information associated withan inmate for creating an inmate record; receiving, from a secondcomputer terminal at the second facility, second inmate informationassociated with the inmate for modifying the inmate record; storing theinmate record in the computer-based system for shared access across tothe inmate record computer terminals in the multiple facilities;receiving a request from one of the multiple telephone terminals forconnection of a call over a telephone carrier network; and connectingthe call from one of the telephone terminals over a telephone carriernetwork and a digital data link responsive to authorizing the call basedon the inmate records stored in the computer-based system.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein said first inmate information is receivedupon said inmate's arrest.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein saidfirst facility comprises a mobile police station.
 13. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising: modifying said inmate record responsive totransferring the inmate from one facility of the multiple facilities toanother facility of the multiple facilities.
 14. The method of claim 10,wherein said inmate record comprises at least one of physicaldescription of the inmate, social security number of the inmate,driver's license number of the inmate, biometric data of the inmate,information related to arrest of the inmate, and contact information ofthird party associated with the inmate.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising: notifying said third party of said inmate's arrestbased on the contact information.
 16. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: establishing an inmate account for charging fees to thethird party for connecting calls placed by the inmate associated withthe inmate account.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:charging said inmate account for an expense incurred by said inmate foran activity other than placing the calls.
 18. The method of claim 16,further comprising: notifying said third party of transfer of the inmatefrom one facility of the multiple facilities to another facility of themultiple facilities; and establishing another inmate account associatedwith said third party responsive to transferring the inmate to the otherfacility.
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein the multiple facilitiescomprise different types of facilities.
 20. The method of claim 10,further comprising: controllin access to the inmate records based onlogon information received from the second computer terminals.